33-year-old Bum Gu Kim and other members of his ring would buy cocaine from a source in Arizona and drive it up to Buffalo, N.Y.,

33-year-old Bum Gu Kim and other members of his ring would buy cocaine from a source in Arizona and drive it up to Buffalo, N.Y., where they crossed the border into Canada, Kim admitted. While in Canada, they would exchange the cocaine for Ecstasy and bring it back to Maryland, where they sold it wholesale to area drug dealers. The cocaine was allegedly purchased from Leonardo Aldana, an Arizona man who is currently awaiting sentencing after being convicted of distributing cocaine and methamphetamine. After listening to a phone conversation between Kim and a co-conspirator in June 2007, federal agents followed Kim to a parking lot near Arundel Mills Mall, where they watched him sell drugs to another person, court documents said. When agents attempted to pull the customer over, the customer fled and tossed 4,800 Ecstasy pills out his window. When the pills were tested in a federal lab, authorities say they found MDMA -- the chemical compound in Ecstasy -- and methamphetamine, more commonly known as speed. Prosecutors said they believed Kim distributed more than 400 pounds of Ecstasy because of the number of deals they overheard him arranging from taps on his cell phone. Kim was eventually arrested after the Internal Revenue Service linked him to the money-laundering scheme, court documents said. Kim would take the cash proceeds of from selling the Ecstasy and use it to pay off credit advances taken out at casinos in Buffalo and Ontario, Canada. He pleaded guilty to the drug distribution charge and money laundering in October 2008, court records show, nearly a year after federal authorities brought his drug-trafficking scheme to a halt. "Money laundering is not a victimless crime, said IRS Special Agent C. Andre Martin. "The underground, untaxed economy harms the nation's economic strength."

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Franklin Payano, of Hollywood, Fla., and Luis Payano, of the Bronx, N.Y., were each charged with nine drug counts.

Acting on information received by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in Hartford, police staked out a parking lot at 262 Spencer St. They arrested Franklin Payano, 33, and Luis Payano, 41, and seized 5 kilograms of cocaine. Police said the cocaine had a wholesale value of $200,000 and a street value of approximately $1 million.Both men were arrested without incident and were held, with bail set at $1.5 million each. Franklin Payano, of Hollywood, Fla., and Luis Payano, of the Bronx, N.Y., were each charged with nine drug counts.Members of the DEA Task Force, the East Central Narcotics Task Force and Manchester and New Britain police departments participated in the investigation.

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